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This gin comes out smelling like a rose
• by Anne Earney - Photo by Jonathan Swegle
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For the perfect Gin and Tonic, you can debate the brand of tonic and the proportion of ingredients, but you can no longer debate the gin. When even dedicated vodka drinkers say they’ve found a gin they adore, you know it’s something different. And that perfect gin is Hendrick’s.
“We go through a lot of it,” said Johnny Brookheart, a bartender at Brennan’s Wine, Food and Tobacco in the Central West End. Brookheart isn’t so keen on the idea that Hendrick’s can convert vodka drinkers to gin, though. “People who don’t drink gin, don’t drink gin,” he said. Yet nearly everyone I’ve coerced into trying Hendrick’s has liked it, even when they say they don’t drink gin.
Hendrick’s, made in Ayrshire, Scotland, comes in a squat, dark-brown bottle, like a medicine bottle from a century ago. The tag on the bottle warns, “It is not for everyone.” Brookheart said he thinks the brand’s marketing is “different for a reason: Because it’s good.”
Hendrick’s is arguably – and I will argue with you – great gin, with the classic juniper-berry taste, but with a twist: an infusion of cucumber and rose petals. Uncork the bottle (that’s not a typo) and inhale. The aroma is lighter, cleaner and sweeter than your average gin. Take a sip and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Despite the fact that it’s 88 proof, Hendrick’s is smooth, refreshing and doesn’t have the biting finish many other brands have.
Now that you’re a convert, it’s time to make the perfect drink. You can make a wonderful dry martini, or even very dry, as the vermouth isn’t even necessary. Or you can enjoy a dirty martini, as my husband prefers, by swamping the gin in olive juice.
And you can mix an absolutely fabulous Gin and Tonic. Tonic water, which contains quinine, was originally made to treat malaria. The taste of quinine was so distinctive, sailors would only drink it if it was mixed with gin, which disguised the flavor somewhat. Tonic water still contains a small amount of quinine for flavor, but not enough to do the job, so don’t think you’re going to travel the tropics while chugging G&Ts, having the time of your life, immune to the ravages of malaria. You’re going to have to take real drugs.
Nonetheless, the G&T is right up there with martinis on the classic drink list. And if you want some help creating the perfect one, Martin Miller’s Gin (not the people who make Hendrick’s) did some research, asking bartenders in New York and Los Angeles to create their best. The winning combination used ice cubes (rather than crushed ice), Schweppes tonic and a proportion of one-third gin to two-thirds tonic, although almost a quarter chose to go slightly stronger. The preferred garnish was a lime slice (half a wheel).
Brookheart thinks the perfect proportion is 3 parts tonic to 1 part gin, and that does make for a very nice drink. He serves it with a lime wedge, but Hendrick’s recommends a cucumber garnish, which really brings out the unique flavor of its gin.
So make the perfect Gin and Tonic, the perfect martini or whatever you choose with your bottle of Hendrick’s. But no matter what you make, I predict you won’t go back to whatever you were drinking before, because you’re sure to find the Hendrick’s Gin and Tonic “cures all that ails you,” as the old medicine bottles Hendrick’s is modeled on claimed.
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